The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 3: Books for ChildrenLamb, Charles
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The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 3: Books for Children
Lamb, Charles
Children's poetry; Children's stories
Romeo: "I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far apart from me, as that
vast shore which is washed with the farthest sea, I should adventure
for such merchandize." A crimson blush came over Juliet's face, yet
unseen by Romeo by reason of the night, when she reflected upon the
discovery which she had made, yet not meaning to make it, of her
love to Romeo. She would fain have recalled her words, but that was
impossible: fain would she have stood upon form, and have kept her
lover at a distance, as the custom of discreet ladies is, to frown and
be perverse, and give their suitors harsh denials at first; to stand
off, and affect a coyness or indifference, where they most love, that
their lovers may not think them too lightly or too easily won: for the
difficulty of attainment increases the value of the object. But there
was no room in her case for denials, or puttings off, or any of the
customary arts of delay and protracted courtship. Romeo had heard
from her own tongue, when she did not dream that he was near her, a
confession of her love. So with an honest frankness, which the novelty
of her situation excused, she confirmed the truth of what he had
before heard, and addressing him by the name of _fair Mountague_
(love can sweeten a sour name), she begged him not to impute her easy
yielding to levity or an unworthy mind, but that he must lay the fault
of it (if it were a fault) upon the accident of the night which had
so strangely discovered her thoughts. And she added, that though her
behaviour to him might not be sufficiently prudent, measured by the
custom of her sex, yet that she would prove more true than many whose
prudence was dissembling, and their modesty artificial cunning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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